1997 LX450 weird vibration (1 Viewer)

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Sep 3, 2018
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
hi, relatively new here. But not too Toyota. My LX450 (factory lockers, cdl, slee 6 inch and 35” radial Trepadors)

I have a weird vibration in drive at low speed/ rpm. It happens when I’m slowing down without being on the brakes, at about 800-900rpm, feels as if I’m going over rumble strips and then when i stop and it goes down to idle it goes away. Accelerating from a stop sign or red light, it’s not there at all. But stop and go traffic slowly accelerating it will do it aswell, until I get above 1000rpm. It’s not associated with brakes because it does it when slowly accelerating and just rolling to a stop. I’ve checked all the u joints with it in neutral and spinning the drive shaft, I know with I joints it will do it almost all the time at any speed. I may pull the drive shaft and test that way. But other then that I’m stumped and hope someone here can help me out.thanks in advance
 
Given the lift and 35" tires, my first thought is U-joints.

Check them with driveline unloaded (in neutral, wheels chocked, no parking brake)
Second is grease in the birfields (dry spindle bushing)
 
Given the lift and 35" tires, my first thought is U-joints.

Check them with driveline unloaded (in neutral, wheels chocked, no parking brake)
Second is grease in the birfields (dry spindle bushing)
I will do all the tests for u joints, take one out and cdl button and drive to see. Then switch. If that’s not it then I will have to take apart the front diff to grease that bushing, I assume I’d need to order that slee bushing greaser?
 
I was not aware of the Slee tool....that's great, and yes, that would definitely take care of it if that is truly the issue.

My thought was simply to make sure that inside the knuckle ball to make sure that the square plug on top is taken out and grease levels checked to make sure that it is not "Birf Soup" and that there is a high level of moly grease in that area. That ball SHOULD be about 3/4 full of grease (can use a long zip-tie to check the level). I use Valvoline Palladium grease in the tube and I have a squeeze handle grease gun (harbor freight cheapies) that I put in 50 to 200 pumps, depending on how low it is. (The gun I have is a small output, not like the long handle guns.)

It is also possible that it is the rear output bearing on the transfer case. A 6" lift on these things creates a whole new set of issues that you can chase, and that may be what the PO had and maybe got tired of chasing.

A rebuilt transfer case is not tough to do, but it depends on how much you're willing to do yourself. I do most of my own work, so not much scares me. But it does take me a lot longer.
 
I was not aware of the Slee tool....that's great, and yes, that would definitely take care of it if that is truly the issue.

My thought was simply to make sure that inside the knuckle ball to make sure that the square plug on top is taken out and grease levels checked to make sure that it is not "Birf Soup" and that there is a high level of moly grease in that area. That ball SHOULD be about 3/4 full of grease (can use a long zip-tie to check the level). I use Valvoline Palladium grease in the tube and I have a squeeze handle grease gun (harbor freight cheapies) that I put in 50 to 200 pumps, depending on how low it is. (The gun I have is a small output, not like the long handle guns.)

It is also possible that it is the rear output bearing on the transfer case. A 6" lift on these things creates a whole new set of issues that you can chase, and that may be what the PO had and maybe got tired of chasing.

A rebuilt transfer case is not tough to do, but it depends on how much you're willing to do yourself. I do most of my own work, so not much scares me. But it does take me a lot longer.


Thanks for your help, I’ll start small and go big!
 
I guess I also didn't state the obvious things to check:

Wheel bearings. Lift a front wheel off the ground with the jack un der the axle. grab the wheel at 6:00 and 12:00 and lift, wiggle to see if you feel a clunk or movement. If so, it could be wheel bearings loose.

If they are, follow the Tools R Us recommendation. (Search it....you'll find it.)
 
I guess I also didn't state the obvious things to check:

Wheel bearings. Lift a front wheel off the ground with the jack un der the axle. grab the wheel at 6:00 and 12:00 and lift, wiggle to see if you feel a clunk or movement. If so, it could be wheel bearings loose.

If they are, follow the Tools R Us recommendation. (Search it....you'll find it.)

I did this before I bought it, there no play or slop in bearings or steering. I have kind of narrowed it down to
A. Wheel bearings
B. Spindle bushing
C. But probably not the exhaust, po ruined the cat and welded in a straight piece of Pipe.

It’s just weird because it’s only at low speeds and there no typical grinding or clunking noise
 
Only hearing or feeling at low speeds points to U-Joints or driveshaft phasing. Check / grease u-joints first.
 
The Trepadors could 100% be the sole cause. Great tires, but big tread blocks. Do you have a different set of wheels/tires you could swap on to take a test-drive to check it out? (or borrow someone else's...)
 
I will check that, would not enough grease cause a vibration like that?

Knuckles being low, dry birf, spindle bushing, etc, can cause vibrations.
 
I would second the tires, at slow speeds I can feel my lugs on my 37s, would be good to try diff tires if you can
 
I would second the tires, at slow speeds I can feel my lugs on my 37s, would be good to try diff tires if you can

I was thinking the exact thing on the drive home earlier, I’m out of town this weekend but will report back Monday after I sort it out. I’ll have new tires on the way next week
 

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